Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 11:24 AM ET

TOL max pain

Spot (delayed)$148.53
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$140-5.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$25.65±17.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.81700 puts / 865 calls
Call wall$210largest call OI
Put wall$95largest put OI
IV3039.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$65Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $170

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$150+1.0%8d
Fri, Sep 18$150+1.0%36d
Fri, Dec 18$140-5.7%127d
Fri, Jan 15$130-12.5%155d
Fri, Mar 19$125-15.8%218d
Thu, Jun 17$110-25.9%308d
Fri, Jan 21$135-9.1%526d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot14065100135170205240$5M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 140 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1406595125155185230216216
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TOL open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

Open-interest change — building vs unwinding

Needs two observed snapshot days for this expiration — the comparison appears automatically once the next weekday snapshot lands. We diff real observations only; nothing is estimated.

Volume by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot140659512515518523033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot6510013517020524062%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 1706595125155185230+$21K$21K
Net dealer gamma per strike, in dollars per 1% move, assuming the standard convention (dealers long calls, short puts) — an assumption, not an observation. Above the amber flip level hedging tends to dampen moves; below it, to amplify them.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.90-0.021150.00510.16-0.03-0.11
0.86-0.021200.00630.20-0.03-0.14
0.83-0.031250.00750.23-0.04-0.18
0.78-0.031300.00880.26-0.04-0.23
0.73-0.041350.00990.29-0.04-0.28
0.68-0.041400.01090.32-0.05-0.33
0.62-0.041450.01160.34-0.05-0.39
0.56-0.051500.01210.35-0.05-0.46
0.50-0.051550.01230.35-0.05-0.52
0.44-0.051600.01220.35-0.05-0.58
0.39-0.051650.01190.34-0.05-0.64
0.33-0.041700.01130.32-0.04-0.69
0.29-0.041750.01060.30-0.04-0.74
0.24-0.041800.00970.28-0.04-0.79
0.21-0.041850.00880.25-0.03-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 32 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot55901201501802201K0
Call open interest per strike, stacked across the checked expirations — each color is one expiry. Strikes are pruned to the liquid center of each chain.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot50801101401702002K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 12K call contracts, 15K put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

Max pain is arithmetic, not prophecy: the settle price that would minimize what option writers pay out at expiration, computed from open interest alone. Prices sometimes gravitate toward heavy strikes into expiry — dealer hedging is a real flow — but the evidence that max pain predicts settlement better than chance is mixed, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Use it as a map of where positioning is stacked, next to the fundamentals and the earnings calendar, not as a target.

Data: Cboe delayed public feed (~15 minutes), refreshed here about every 15 minutes. Open interest itself updates once daily, before the open. Educational information, not investment advice.

Keep going: TOL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk